Penguinos!

 This morning dawned early as we had a 7:00 disembarkation scheduled for Magdalena Island, natural sanctuary for the Magellanic Penguins.

Beautiful sunrise over the Strait of Magellan.

The moon was still up.

Getting closer to penguinos.

The Team is excited to see the penguinos.

Beautiful sunrise behind our boat.

Nobody's home.

TR and MB will remember Magdalena Island and the penguinos.

Staying warm in the burrow.

A Mom and Dad.

Spread your wings!

I don't think it was this guy, but one of them waddled over like he was going to cross our path, but he turned around and....pooped right in front of us.

Catching some rays.

Porpoises greet us good morning.

 After the penguins we returned to the boat for a final breakfast buffet before packing up and getting ready for arrival back in Punta Arenas.

Coming in this pilot boat came out to escort us in to port.

I've got some better pics of the docking procedure with my SLR that I will post up, but it was cool to see the sideways movement in to the pier and the dockworkers tying up the boat.We disembarked to the pier but had to take about a 100' bus ride (Buses Fernandez!) to the terminal.

DC gets some extra attention.

Neat clock in the port entrance.

Dancing gaucho snowmen to the right?

The Magellan statue in the plaza in Punta Arenas. If you rub the toe of the Yamana statue to the right, you will return to Punta Arenas or so the story goes.

Apparently PA has gone to the dogs.

At Lomit's, this is a lomito with queso or a sliced pork sandwich with cheese. Not bad!

The leaning tower of napkins.

One last Hi Lux for the collection.

North to New York!

I'll be coming back then!

The Chilean Antarctic Institute.

The second time seeing this I could see this is the third, oldest boat for Cruceros Australis, in dry dock for repairs.

We dropped our bags at the Cruceros office while we explored Punta Arenas. We grabbed lunch and then checked out a few shops in town. We grabbed a taxi and it was like Amazing Race as we competed with the F family. We left early, but our taxi driver decided to stop and fill up with propane. We were a little perplexed, but once we got back on the road, it was hammer down. We managed to pull in right behind them at the airport.

We had a little bit of confusion with the airport check in, and we were skeptical that our bags would actually make it all the way back to DC. The flight to Santiago went well and we managed the domestic to international changeover and security check in time for our boarding of the Miami flight. It was a good seat and the movie was "Trouble with the Curve". Good movie but I lost picture for the last 15 minutes. I'll have to catch it on Netflix.

We landed about 10 minutes late and we began the dash for the connection. When we got off the plane they had these Express Connection passes for those of us on the DC flight. Immigration was okay, but it didn't delay me much because the bags hadn't arrived at the carousel yet. When we entered baggage claim, I knew I was screwed. The line for the three Customs inspectors was easily a hundred people deep in each line. Really? Only three inspectors for more than four hundred people? Some people grumbled that it was because of sequestration, but I have a feeling it was SNAFU for Miami.

Unfortunately, DC's bag didn't show up from the plane. On the plus side, it allowed him to get through Custom's quicker and Security for the DC flight. When I finally made it through Customs, they flagged me at the bag check for the domestic flight. So sorry sir, off to re-booking with you.

The agent was able to put me on stand by for the 9:30 flight. I joined the masses of humanity at the gate and luckily got called for a seat. I breathed a short sigh of relief that I was actually on the plane. In the end, the pilot made good time and I got in to DCA only about an hour later that if I'd made the original flight.

I've got more pictures from the SLR and videos to post up so stay tuned, but that's a wrap as far as the trip. I'll be back with other pictures, commentary and stories I've forgotten.